What's funny with Larry Holmes reign as champion...

[Mars_ax]

Last I heard, since he retired Holmes has gotten a PHD in Physics and Aeronautical Engineering and is currently building spaceships for NASA, that's right, Larry is a Rocket Scientist now.

[ykdadamaja]

Last I heard, since he retired Holmes has gotten a PHD in Physics and Aeronautical Engineering and is currently building spaceships for NASA, that's right, Larry is a Rocket Scientist now.

Great second job. I heard he left Harvard-Law to pursue this.

[TitoFan]

Last I heard, since he retired Holmes has gotten a PHD in Physics and Aeronautical Engineering and is currently building spaceships for NASA, that's right, Larry is a Rocket Scientist now.

Great second job. I heard he left Harvard-Law to pursue this.

He was on his way to becoming a neurosurgeon..... but got kicked out of med school for stating that Sanjay Gupta wasn't fit to carry his jock.

[Mars_ax]

Last I heard, since he retired Holmes has gotten a PHD in Physics and Aeronautical Engineering and is currently building spaceships for NASA, that's right, Larry is a Rocket Scientist now.

Great second job. I heard he left Harvard-Law to pursue this.

Correct, Larry actually majored in English at Harvard.

cheers

[ykdadamaja]

Last I heard, since he retired Holmes has gotten a PHD in Physics and Aeronautical Engineering and is currently building spaceships for NASA, that's right, Larry is a Rocket Scientist now.

Great second job. I heard he left Harvard-Law to pursue this.

Correct, Larry actually majored in English at Harvard.

cheers

Well, if you wanna get "techno" about it... English was his undergraduate degree.

[ykdadamaja]

Who couldn't love this?

[Mars_ax]

@ykdadamaja

Good find, I never watched the post fight interview after the 1st fight, but I did watch both of Holmes' losses to Spinks. An argument can be made that Spinks did indeed outwork Holmes and win the 1st fight, but I still thought Holmes did enough to keep his title. I thought Holmes won the 2nd fight fairly decisively.

I always thought Holmes shot himself in the foot with his comments about Marciano, and TBH, I think it had an influence on the way the judges scored the 2 fights with Spinks. Plus, the Italian mob was alive and well at the time.

Jim Gray and Chris Berman reporting for ESPN, look like fucking teenagers.

[ykdadamaja]

@ykdadamaja

Good find, I never watched the post fight interview after the 1st fight, but I did watch both of Holmes' losses to Spinks. An argument can be made that Spinks did indeed outwork Holmes and win the 1st fight, but I still thought Holmes did enough to keep his title. I thought Holmes won the 2nd fight fairly decisively.

I always thought Holmes shot himself in the foot with his comments about Marciano, and TBH, I think it had an influence on the way the judges scored the 2 fights with Spinks. Plus, the Italian mob was alive and well at the time.

Jim Gray and Chris Berman reporting for ESPN, look like fucking teenagers.

Yup. That's Gray before the vicious cynicsm. hehehehe....

[THE THIRD MAN]

Holmes was a great HW champ, he was unlucky to have fought at a time just after the golden era of the 60's and 70's. I rank him a top 10 Heavyweight champ, (about 9th or 10th) but he does himself no favours by his continual whining and bitterness. He was lucky to beat Norton and how he survived that right hand knockdown of Shavers is anybody's guess. ( i give him due credit for that one alone) At the end of the day he beat everyone they put in front of him and that's all you can do, Spinks was his nemesis, styles make make fights and Spinks was just too awkward for him. In comparison he beats Lewis and Wlad any night of the week. Larry should just stop his bleating and take his career as it was, it was a great one.

[ykdadamaja]

Holmes was a great HW champ, he was unlucky to have fought at a time just after the golden era of the 60's and 70's. I rank him a top 10 Heavyweight champ, (about 9th or 10th) but he does himself no favours by his continual whining and bitterness. He was lucky to beat Norton and how he survived that right hand knockdown of Shavers is anybody's guess. ( i give him due credit for that one alone) At the end of the day he beat everyone they put in front of him and that's all you can do, Spinks was his nemesis, styles make make fights and Spinks was just too awkward for him. In comparison he beats Lewis and Wlad any night of the week. Larry should just stop his bleating and take his career as it was, it was a great one.

And that's pretty fair. I think everyone can pretty much admit that Ali WAS the greatest. By far... and, to be honest, I rank Vitali better than I do Wlad. Seriously!

Holmes can beat Wlad but he wouldn't beat Vitali. Holmes can beat Lewis in a prime for prime fight. He would simply out-score Lewis. And Lewis knows it if he asks himself seriously.

[Mars_ax]

Holmes was a bit of a whiner, but some of it was understandable, he was always in Ali's shadow and never really got the respect he deserved. Part of that however had to do with Larry having the charisma of a carrot and never being a popular champion.
I remember when Holmes fought Cooney in Vegas, it was like Cooney was the Champion, they even introduced him last like they would the champion. I heard the crowd in Vegas was really racist, the great white hope thing.

[ykdadamaja]

Holmes was a bit of a whiner, but some of it was understandable, he was always in Ali's shadow and never really got the respect he deserved. Part of that however had to do with Larry having the charisma of a carrot and never being a popular champion.
I remember when Holmes fought Cooney in Vegas, it was like Cooney was the Champion, they even introduced him last like they would the champion. I heard the crowd in Vegas was really racist, the great white hope thing.

I think the fans turned against Holmes when he actually went out to beat Ali to a crisp, when everyone with half a brain could see Ali wasn't "Ali" and he really should have carried Ali for the duration.

Holmes really was dumb as a box of rocks. But his money management skills was second to none, and he sure did keep most of his winnings and used it wisely- he is one of the few fighters who speaks highly of Don King. Fancy that?

But another snapshot into how dumb Holmes was- he came back to fight Tyson when he did. (his dumb arrogance caused him to nearly get killed).... and secondly, when he felt as if Spinks was smaller, he could beat Spinks.

The Spinks fight was a disaster for Holmes because Spinks moved around the ring and used his speed. Holmes just couldn't catch him... it was a trap for Holmes and he fell for it. Perhaps none of us knew? But looking back at it now, would you REALLY set a Floyd Mayweather to fight an aged Bernard Hopkins at 154 or 160?


That's sorta like how Holmes/Spinks was...

[Mars_ax]

To tell the truth I was really glad Spinks won the first fight, not because of Marciano's record or anything, I just liked Spinks better then I did Holmes.
I must admit though, that Larry really got screwed in the rematch, there's no fucking way that Spinks won that fight.
As for Holmes' fight with Tyson, oddly enough I thought Larry might win, I should have known better because this was back when Mikey had seriously bad intentions, and was like a juggernaut. I can't say I minded seeing 'ole Peanuthead (what Ali used to call him) finally get his ass kicked.

[IamInuit]

Holmes was a great HW champ, he was unlucky to have fought at a time just after the golden era of the 60's and 70's. I rank him a top 10 Heavyweight champ, (about 9th or 10th) but he does himself no favours by his continual whining and bitterness. He was lucky to beat Norton and how he survived that right hand knockdown of Shavers is anybody's guess. ( i give him due credit for that one alone) At the end of the day he beat everyone they put in front of him and that's all you can do, Spinks was his nemesis, styles make make fights and Spinks was just too awkward for him. In comparison he beats Lewis and Wlad any night of the week. Larry should just stop his bleating and take his career as it was, it was a great one.

Please... Lewis stomps him a new mud hole. Larry Holmes never faced anyone even near Lewis.

[ykdadamaja]

To tell the truth I was really glad Spinks won the first fight, not because of Marciano's record or anything, I just liked Spinks better then I did Holmes.
I must admit though, that Larry really got screwed in the rematch, there's no fucking way that Spinks won that fight.
As for Holmes' fight with Tyson, oddly enough I thought Larry might win, I should have known better because this was back when Mikey had seriously bad intentions, and was like a juggernaut. I can't say I minded seeing 'ole Peanuthead (what Ali used to call him) finally get his ass kicked.

Ali was right, he did have a peanut head...